Welcome to the IPMS/USA Reviews site!

Introduction: The primary organization of the IPMS/USA Review website is by IPMS/USA National Contest Class. Within each Class there are sub-menus by kits, decals, books, etc. The Miscellaneous Class is for items that are not class specific or that cross two or more classes.

IPMS/USA Members: We encourage you to submit reviews, both here and to the Journal. To volunteer for membership in the IPMS/USA "Reviewers Corps" and submit your own reviews, please read the Guidelines For Submitting Product Reviews.

Manufacturers, publishers, and other industry members: IPMS/USA is pleased to offer your company the opportunity for product reviews. All product reviews are performed by IPMS/USA members, and are posted in the publicly-accessible section of our website. With very few exceptions, we perform full build reviews of new kit releases, aftermarket products, and supplies. If you would care to provide product samples for review, please contact John Noack, IPMS/USA 1st VP.

To learn more about IPMS/USA, please see our About Us page.

Book Author(s)
Richard Marmo
Review Author
Paul Mahoney
Published on
Company
Scale Publications
MSRP
$3.99

Richard Marmo’s name might be familiar to many IPMSer’s… he is one of the founding members of the club, and is in fact IPMS Membership #2 !!

This is #6 in his series of ePublications, and the first I have had the pleasure to read (and review). Available in several different formats, including ePub and PDF (see links above), this is an 89 page, highly detailed description of how Richard built (for commission) the 1/72nd scale C-46 kit produced by Williams Brothers.

Note: There are several ways to obtain this publication - Barnes and Noble (ePub ONLY) or via smashwords. I have listed both url's below:

Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$7.00

The Tamiya F-14A Tomcat set a standard for plastic model kits. If there is a drawback it is that the aircraft can only be built as a very early Tomcat. Well Quickboost has addressed most of the options to upgrade your Tomcat’s chin pod. All these chin pods were used on later F-14As and F-14Bs.

Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
Mirage Hobby
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$12.00

This is a new version of the Renault UE Tankette and is the Scout version. This version has two options you can build one which has two machine gun turrets while the other has one machine gun turret and a load carrier at the rear.

The kit contains

  • 3 x sprues molded in grey styrene
  • 1 color guide sheet
  • 1 decal sheet
  • 1 instruction booklet.

Construction

Firstly you must know the instructions are in Polish which will be a problem for a novice modeler, but many will have no real trouble with the instructions.

Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$46.71

As someone who was very involved in developing the Kitty Hawk UH-1D, I know of some of the shortcomings of the kit. Some things that were not able to be addressed or were caused by the limitations of the plastic. Some things are just better in photoetch.

The key about these Big Ed sets is that they are a one stop shop for a kit. Not only are they a one stop shop but they are discounted significantly than if you were to buy the sets separately. In this case the saving is almost $20.

Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
Aires Hobby Models
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$22.00

The new Airfix P-40B is an excellent example of the iconic fighter made famous by the Flying Tigers. The kit is nice but there are some things in the cockpit that need to be ‘fixed’. Aires has released this new cockpit set for the kit.

Inside the typical Aires blister pack are 21 pieces of molded in light grey resin. My example was flawless despite damage to the blister package. The set also has a small fret of photo etch that includes the instrument panel and seatbelts. A film of acetate is also provided for the instruments.

This set will require some thinning of the sidewalls to get it to fit properly. But once you get past that, the set fits together simply and easily. The parts breakdown is very similar to the kit breakdown. The pour stubs are easy enough to remove.